German Postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 163/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der weiße Dämon/Dope (1932, Kurt Gerron), starring Hans Albers.
Plot: Consul Gorre (Alfred Abel) is the head of an international gang of drug smugglers that also includes the morphine-addicted theatre director Urussev (Raoul Aslan), the Marquis d'Esquillon (Hubert von Meyerinck), section chief of the gang in Paris, and a man known only as "the Hunchback" (Peter Lorre) who is responsible for importing the narcotics from overseas. The gang of criminals travels under the guise of an internationally performing touring theatre troupe, joined as a leading lady by the young artist Gerda Gildemeister (Gerda Maurus). Gerda's brother is the "Hamburg boy" Heini Gildemeister (Hans Albers) who, after years of absence spent in South America, finally returns to his hometown by ship. On this journey home, he rescues Gorres' son after he had fallen overboard.
Back home, Heini makes a terrible discovery: Sister Gerda is only a wreck, very weak and ailing in body, mind and soul. Years of morphine abuse have taken their toll on her. She has become completely dependent and can hardly get back on her feet without this drug, also called the "white demon". Heini discovers a corresponding syringe in the pocket of Dora (Trude von Molo), a friend of Gerda's, and receives confirmation from the theatre doctor that his sister has become a dependent morphine addict through years of drug use. Heini immediately takes her to the nearest hospital. But since Gerda is supposed to travel to Paris the next day as part of a tour, the gang members are immediately on the scene and get her out of the hospital. They force Gerda to call her brother and summon him to a meeting in a pub that has a reputation as a drug bar.
When Heini appears there, the gang tries to overpower the "troublemaker", but the whole bloke of a man manages to free himself and now takes up the pursuit of the gang on his own, as the police who were informed earlier are of no real help. Heini is determined to prevent Gerda from staying in the custody of the unscrupulous dealers even one day longer. But Heini fails in this, because Gerda goes to the French capital for a singing performance with the theatre troupe, where she is held in the Marquis' house. The Marquis explains to Heini that Gerda (delirious with fever, as it turns out) has forged a bill of exchange - in the hope that Heini will finally give in so as not to let his sister go to prison. Consul Gorre, who has been in Heini's debt ever since his son was rescued on the overseas steamer, helps him to free Gerda so that Heini can immediately take her to a sanatorium. But Heini still does not know who the ostensible ally really is.
Heini Gildemeister does not let up and follows the gang of criminals. In Lisbon he manages to get "the hunchback" arrested, while Urusev, who betrayed his buddies, is shot. On the flight home with Dora and Gorre, Heini now also exposes the ominous consul as the head of the gang. With suicidal intent, he then throws himself into the Atlantic. Heini and Gerda's artist colleague Dora, with whom he has become friends in the meantime, return to Hamburg as friends for life.
Jovial, (n his later years) pleasantly plump Hans Albers (1891 – 1960) was a superstar of the German cinema between 1930 and 1945. He was also one of the most popular German singers of the twentieth century. His song Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins (On the Reeperbahn at half past midnight) is the unofficial anthem of Hamburg’s neighborhood of St. Pauli, famous for its brothels, music and night clubs.
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